The Lilac Vase: Curiosity Kills The Cat
by crazytomboy78
Summary: When an old Rhodes family heir loom is revealed, the three find it mysterious, and they're curious. With Pepper clinging to Tony lately, will there be consequences to come, or will it reveal some shocking news about Rhodey's family?Pepperony! Yayyyy. :D
1. Chapter 1

**Hey peoples! This is gonna be a really weird story, cuz I didn't know what show to write it for. So I decided ill just write it for IMAA! Can't wait till mondayyy (:**

**Prologue~**

He stood there, watching her dust it, clean it, and admire it. A lilac vase. Where did it come from, and why does she like it so much? He thought to himself. He sighed.

"Umm, I hate to ruin your mood, mom, but what is that vase for?" He asked, curious. Then his mother sighed, and spoke.

"It's a family heir loom. It was my mother's, and now it's mine. Someday you'll inherit It, like I did." She explained, looking into the vase. What was there inside that was so interesting to look at _inside a vase_? Black nothingness, that's what. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Hey, dude, have you seen my—umm, what's with the vase?" Tony came into the room, Pepper trailing behind him.

"Yeah, it's pretty, and it's lilac, which I love, except my favorite color is red, but lilac is a close second. It's tottaly pretty, where did you get that? I like, love it, and—" Pepper rambled, only to be interrupted by Mrs. Rhodes.

"It's a Rhodes family heir loom. It was my mom's, now it's mine." Roberta explained, still looking into it. What the heck was inside that thing that made it so interesting? This made Tony very curious, and he intended to investigate later in the night, when everyone was asleep.

Lilac was Roberta's favorite color, which made her admire the vase even more. She knew that a lot of people thought of lilac as a flower, but it was an uncommon and unknown shade of purple, or lavender. She knew one thing that no one else did; what laid inside that vase. It was a magical vase, and whenever someone looked inside, followed by placing the hand on the rim or anywhere inside, could suck the person in, trapping them inside the vase forever. Roberta's mother got trapped inside, and ended up dying in there. It had the mystic power to overwhelm people with curiosity for it, which most of the time, is what leads the victim to entrapment in the first place.

Tony shrugged, and walked off with Rhodey off to the armory, because Tony didn't care if it was burnt, he wanted to see his lab. He didn't seem to care much if his friends joined him or not, so he went ahead, regardless of opinions of others.

Later that night, when, once again, Tony wasn't sleeping, he decided to let his curiosity take over. He went into the kitchen to look at the vase. He wanted to uncover some of its secrets, to see why it was so weirdly attractive. He reached it's pedestal in the kitchen, and looked inside it. He reached his hands towards it, then felt a sudden tugging at his placed hand—the vase was pulling him in. Tony quickly resisted its pull and yanked his hand back. He glared at it, even more curious now. He went back to his room just in time for Pepper to call, claiming that she 'couldn't sleep'. They—or, Pepper mostly, talked for at least two hours.

The next morning, Tony walked out of his room, not a trace of being tired, because he did fall asleep for at least an hour without Pepper noticing, because she talked so much. That's Pepper for you. He held his phone, grunting and pressing the END button on his phone to end his call.

"Up all night talking to your girlfriend again, I see." Rhodey claimed, walking out of his own room, joining Tony. This caused Tony to grow red in the face.

"What? No. Not all night, at least. She called me about two hours ago because she couldn't sleep." Tony responded, correcting his friend.

"Yeah, she really seems to be clinging to you lately. _I wonder why."_ Rhodey said, making the last part sarcastic.

"What? Why?" Tony asked, confused. Rhodey shook his head in disappointment.

"Dude. She just got played by Gene. You were there in that little window of opportunity where she was looking for someone to cheer her up, or whatever they call it that girls have when they get dumped." Rhodey explained, holding back giggles.

"Well, i….but, I didn't mean—OH, shutup. I was just being friendly. I didn't know girls had that little 'window of opportunity' thing." Tony responded, getting even more red in the face.

"Face it dude, she's back to being super-clung to you." Rhodey said, creating a layer of enjoyment in his voice. Tony groaned and moved on with his day.

Later, after school, the three were in Rhodey's kitchen, chatting. They became curious about the lilac vase once again, and decided to take a look at it. They walked over to it, and looked into it. Tony tried placing his hand on the vase again. This time, Tony couldn't pull back. The vase was sucking him in, and there was nothing Tony could do to stop it. He soon found himself entrapped in a mysterious black world. Pepper gasped, and shouted, expecting Tony to answer. Looking into the vase, Pepper too was sucked into the vase. Rhodey found himself panicking, and ran to tell his mom.

The only problem was that Roberta was still at work, and wouldn't be home for another two hours.

Tony and Pepper were doomed to stay in that vase for a long time.

**Whew! That was cool, huh? Well chapter two is going to be awesome. We're going to take a look into the vase and see what happens between Tony and Pepper while they spend some alone time in the vase! WOOTTT! Only three days till Monday! Wheoooooowww (: k review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**LIKE OMYGOSHHHH. Tomorrow is Monday! I've never been so exited for a Monday in my life. It's like, the best day ever! No school, 3 day weekend, new IMAA, get to sleep in, and stay up late, what else is next? (:**

Tony looked around the dark area with panic seeping into his mind. How was he going to get out? What part of science could ever make this possible? Then he realized that it was a little too dark, so he got his pod out and used the light shining off from it to look around. Maybe there was something in here that could help him get out. He looked around to see nothing but lilac walls. He sighed, and the vase lit up on its own. He put his pod back on his denim pants, and looked around some more.

"Oh no, we're going to be in here forever! We have nothing to eat! We're going to die in here and no one will ever know! WE'RE DOOMED!" Pepper screamed, in massive panic.

"PEPPER! Calm down! We'll get out of here. We just have to figure out how. Just calm down. Breathe." Tony interrupted, assuring her everything was ok. Pepper grunted and leaned against the lilac wall of the vase.

"There has to be some sort of catch to this. There's no way a random vase can just suck us up and have that be that." Tony wondered, looking for some kind of test or something. He soon gave up and sat down. Pepper joined him on the floor, and the limited area inside the vase grew quiet.

"Tony? Are you _sure _we're going to get out of here? What if we don't?" Pepper asked in a calm voice.

"I promise, Pepper, we will get out of here. I won't let anything happen." Tony answered, giving Pepper a reassured feeling. She was still unsure about one thing.

"Tony, what if we can't get out of here when you need to charge your heart? You could die in here." Pepper asked, worried.

"Well, I just charged before I got stuck in here, and I'm not doing anything that's draining it too fast, so if I just relax until I find a way to get out of here, I'll be fine. I promise, okay?" Tony explained.

"You say 'I promise' too much. But fine. I'll calm down." Pepper said, resting her head on Tony's shoulder as she sat in his silence. Tony ignored it and let her rest on him.

Rhodey frantically grabbed his phone and dialed his mom's work number. When his mom picked up, he worriedly explained to his mom what had happened to his friends. Roberta said she was about to leave anyways, so she would hurry home. Rhodey paced Tony's room thinking of a way he could get his friends out. What would happen if he tried reaching into it and grabbing them? No, the hole was too small to fit into the vase. He could stick something in there for them to climb up. Hmm. He grabbed a pencil and went to the vase and stuck it in. He yelled into the vase to have them grab on to the pencil, but instead, it just shrunk into the vase. No use putting a ladder in there, I guess. Roberta came home and started brainstorming ideas to get the two out of the vase. This was definitely nothing that 911 could handle. They couldn't smash it, because who knows what that could do to them. The two couldn't think of anything.

_There just has to be a way out. I mean, really, wherever there's a way In, there's a way out too, right? So where is it? _Pepper thought to herself.

"We could try climbing up the walls to the top." Pepper suggested to Tony.

"Nahh, I can't climb flat wall. It's not possible." Tony answered. Then the two heard an old, mysterious voice from the other side of the vase. Tony stood up, and then helped Pepper up. The two slowly walked towards the other side of the vase. Pepper, being frightened, stayed behind Tony, grasping his shoulder.

"So now you two are trapped in here with me, are you?" The voice said.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?" Tony asked the voice, demanding answers.

"Do not worry child, I am not harmless. Come closer, and I will explain for you." The voice said. Tony and Pepper stepped forward and saw and old, wrinkly black woman. She looked like the kind of lady people saw on TV as psychics, or whatever they are.

"Come, please sit." The woman offered. Tony and Pepper sat down across from the old woman.

"My name is Olvera. I've been trapped in this accursed vase for thirty years now, and still do not know any way out of this stinking vase." Olvera explained to them.

"Wow, thirty years? Don't you miss your family?" Pepper asked, feeling sorrow for Olvera.

"Yes, child, I do. I find it hard to live without anyone for so long, but now we three have each other now. Child, you are lucky to have come in here with someone to be with, and not alone, like I have." Olvera said, looking over to Tony.

"Yeah, but Tony is such a science nerd." Pepper said, giggling. Tony playfully punched her arm.

"Hey, I can be fun sometimes, too." Tony defended himself, smiling.

"Oh, I almost forgot, where are my manners! I'm Pepper Pots, and this is Tony Stark." Pepper said, pointing to herself, then Tony.

"Dear child, I knew that. I know everything about you two. I know things about you that you may not even know." Olvera stated.

"How?" Tony asked, curious about the facts of science behind it.

"Well, I'm just that kind of person. I can read people." Olvera explained. Tony shrugged and yawned.

"Well, I'm getting tired, so I think I'll go get some sleep over there." Tony said, getting up and walking to the other side. Pepper watched him leave, and remembered his smile.

"I see you care for this boy very much, miss Pepper." Olvera said, wisely.

"What? Oh, well he's like, my friend, so yeah." Pepper answered, pulling herself back to reality.

"You love the boy, miss Pepper." Olvera said, reading into Pepper's mind.

"Well, yeah…."

**K so like, that was cool. TOMORROW IS MONDAY EVERYONE!!!! I'm just so dang exited. K review! Byeee (:**


	3. Chapter 3

**Heyy, peoples, sorry for that long wait, I was procrastinating and I had swim practice, with the whole im on the swim team thing. But this chapter should be good!**

Tony's eyes fluttered open, and looked around his surrounding area. Something was wrong. This didn't look like his room, and it didn't feel like his room.

"Oh, that's right. I'm trapped." Tony stated, remembering his current situation. He stood up and looked around to see where Olvera and Pepper were. Last he remembers they were still chatting when Tony went to sleep. He found Pepper sleeping on the floor near Tony, and Olvera was still in her little corner of the world on the other side of the vase. He walked over to Olvera to chat while he waited for an idea, and for Pepper to wake up. Then Tony felt his stomach growl at him. He was hungry, and he needed food soon. He was going to go through day 1 of starvation if they didn't get out of here soon. Great.

"Hey, have you thought of any way we can get out of here soon?" Tony asked, approaching Olvera.

"No, child, I have been here long, and have not had one successful idea yet." Olvera responded.

"Then how did you not die of starvation yet?" Tony asked, curious and still hungry. Then he heard yawning and footsteps. Pepper had woken up and joined Tony and Olvera.

"Well, this vase prevents that. If you ever do get out, you will regain your old appetite. No worries, child." Olvera said, watching Pepper sit down next to Tony.

"Hey, Tony, did you get any ideas to get out of here? Because I've got nothing, not a thing. My mind is dead as far as ideas. I'm blank. Oh, we better get out of here soon, Tony. Oh, hey, what if we try tipping it over? Can't we use all our strength to push it over? That's such a good idea, I thought I didn't have any ideas!! Wow, I'm good." Pepper said, talking like she usually does.

"Pepper, you're the only one I know with this much energy in the morning." Tony stated with a sly tone to his voice.

"Well, you're the only one I know that can be so…..so…..Tony in the morning!" Pepper responded, looking for a better comeback.

"Nice one, Pepper." Tony joked back, being the Tony he was. Pepper playfully punched his arm, and the two turned their attention back to Olvera. Pepper kept talking, as usual, barely letting anyone else talk, then Tony tried looking at what logic and scientific way they could tip the vase over and not get hurt in the process. Olvera knew something that Tony and Pepper didn't, though.

The vase they were trapped in was called "The Lover's Vase". It was made to trap someone inside along with their true love until the two became a couple and admitted their true feelings for each other. She wasn't going to tell the two this, she had to let them find love on their own. Otherwise it wouldn't work. The three basically talked the whole day.

That night, Tony and Pepper were on their own side of the vase, trying to sleep. They decided they couldn't, and stayed awake and talked to each other until they got sleepy.

"Haha, yeah. That was pretty funny." Tony stated, laughing. Then all fell silent.

"Tony?" Pepper said, breaking the silence.

"Yep?" Tony responded.

"Well, I've had fun these past few days, you know, just you and me…..I mean, even though we're trapped in a weird vase thingy and all…." Pepper said, getting nervous and blushing. This made Tony fall silent and blush as well.

"Umm, yeah, It's nice…..i'm uhh, having fun too…." Tony responded, being quiet, but loud enough to be heard. The two fell silent and blushed harder. The two fell silent, again, and the space between them suddenly got smaller and smaller, until the two were too nervous and pushed away, right when their noses were not even a millimeter apart.

"Uhh, i-I think I'm going to go to sleep now….uhh, you know, long day and all…" Tony stated, lying down and resting his head.

"Yeah, umm, me too…nite, Tony." Pepper responded.

"Goodnight, Pepper…." Tony stated back, softly, drifting into a night of sleep.

Then one final thought slipped into Pepper's head before she fell asleep.

_You love him, miss Pepper._

_**Yes, yes I do…**_

**Wohh! EPICALL. That was keww, so review! Ahahaa that rhymes. [:**


	4. Chapter 4

**Heyheyhey!! Like, I been thinking! Next time you watch IMAA, pay close attention to the way Tony and Pepper communicate, and the way they look at each other. Even pay attention to the way they talk about each other. I watched an episode earlier, and I saw the love between them! It's so cool. Pay REALLY close attention though. Like, really close. Then you'll all see. It's cool. Anyways, here's chapter 3!**

Pepper yawned, and fluttered her eyes open. She didn't quite feel like moving her arms, or moving at all. She felt good. She felt happy, like life was perfect right now. She turned her head to see that she had been cuddling Tony in her sleep. He hadn't noticed yet, either. Pepper had her arms and head resting on Tony's chest. Then she heard a yawn and Tony mumbled a 'good morning' out of his waking mouth. Then he felt something touching him. He looked to see what it was, and saw Pepper sleeping on him. Then he realized she was awake.

"Umm….Pepper? What are you doing?" Tony asked, furiously blushing at the becoming-awkward situation.

"Umm, well, uhh, I don't know, I sorta, just woke up like this, umm, sorry…" Pepper explained, blushing furiously as well as Tony. Then she got off of Tony and they both sat, and then stood up.

"Umm, oh, that's okay then; probably one of those sleeping habits, uhh, totally understandable." Tony said, growing a little alarmed when he realized that he didn't mind her doing that; in fact, he wanted her to go back to that. He liked it. _NO, no. It's Pepper, we're just friends…..nothing but friends. Nothing going on but that…..right?_ Tony thought to himself. For once there was something Tony did not know: was there more, or were they just friends? Were they supposed to be more? He really wanted to know. He didn't know how to find out other than to wonder and think inside his head about what the two could be, and what they're not. What they _could _be. What they _**want**_ to be…….

"Well, I guess we can take a crack at that whole tip the vase idea. Worth the try, I guess." Tony spoke up, telling Pepper.

Outside the vase, Rhodey and Roberta were discussing what they could do to help Tony and Pepper get out of the vase. They hoped that they hadn't already starved to death, or something terrible like that. _At least they'd have died with each other. Hehe._ Rhodey thought to himself, knowing that deep inside Tony and Pepper liked each other more than friends. He also knew that they didn't know that. Not yet, anyway.

"What if we reach in and grab them?" Rhodey suggested. Roberta just shook her head.

"James, there's something else I know about this vase. Something shocking; this vase is called The Lover's Vase. It was made as pottery, but a curse was cast upon it by a 13th century genie. If someone happens to be trapped inside, they're trapped inside with their true love until the two finally get together. I'm afraid there's nothing we can do to get them out unless they get together. I'm sorry." Roberta explained, sorrowfully.

Tony was sitting across from Pepper, and the two were talking. Apparently Olvera was doing something that they couldn't see just yet. So the two sat waiting out the time with nothing to do but talk. Talk and stare, that is. Then Olvera called the two over, proclaiming that she was done.

"Good morning, good children. It is a good one, yes?" Olvera greeted, as she always did when she was having a good morning. Tony greeted back with a 'hello', and begun descending deeper into his escape plan, not noticing Olvera mixing a very mysterious liquid in a little cup she had with her. However, Pepper was being very observant this morning and was suspicious.

"Hey, what is that?" Pepper asked, pointing to Olvera's cup.

"Oh, nothing. Just a drink that I was able to whip up using the remaining items of my cloak. It's grape juice, actually. Very good." Olvera explained, not fully telling the truth. It was a drink, but it was a love potion. One that worked over time, then took full effect at just the right moment. She pulled two more cups from her cloak and poured Tony and Pepper both a glass.

"Cool, looks good. I could use something to drink." Pepper said, extending her arm to grab herself a cup. Tony did the same, and the two took a sip at the same time. Each of their sips took about 7 seconds each. This means that the potion would take full effect in 7 hours.

Tony decided to go survey the rest of the area, and walked off to see where the spot with the most potential would be. Then another thought popped into his head. _I hope Pepper accidently sleeps on me again. Wait, why am I thinking that? I—no, we're just friends…..right?_ Then all the memories popped into Tony's head. The time they got kidnapped, and Pepper said it was so awesome that they were spending time together, and how he was her hero. Technically, that was true, but Tony knew she didn't mean that to be taken literally, but more…..romantically.

When he first told Pepper he was Iron Man, because he took one look at her face and couldn't stand to lie to her anymore. The way her words tore into him, just broke him. Seeing her face up in the air like that, the way she looked like she never wanted that moment to end. He couldn't stand it.

The time after that, in the first temple, the way he tried to catch the falling Pepper, the way she fell on him, but thanked him anyways, the way she was so hoping for him to say something rather romantic. It seemed that most of the time Pepper talked to Tony, she did it romantically…..Then it finally clicked in his mind.

_There's something more……_

**Like, wow, sorry for all the short chapters, but that was like, such an awesome place to stop but I just had to! So sorry! Well, it was still cool. Review! [:**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey popples. Like, whaooo. Ummm, hmmf. I think this might be the last chapter….!! Maybe, maybe not. Let's find out! (seriously, I don't even know.)**

Tony had figured out that tipping the vase from the inside was too dangerous to try, considering how high off the ground the vase was. He concluded that it could be fatal. There was no possible way to climb up the walls of the vase since there was nothing they could use to climb, like rocks on a rock climbing wall. Without the rocks on the wall, there's no way to climb. That was pretty obvious. Then Tony started to feel a little weird. He decided to ignore the feeling and just forget about it. What Tony didn't know was that it was the love potion starting to kick in. It had only been 2 and a half hours since their 7-second sips, so it wasn't taking full effect yet. It was starting to, though. Tony finished his browsing and went back to chatting with Olvera and Pepper. They weren't talking about anything too interesting, but the topic lasted a while longer.

Later, about 5 hours later, Tony looked at the time and saw that it was already getting late. Then the feeling he got earlier totally took over him now, since it had been 7 hours already. Both Tony and Pepper felt weird as they were quietly sitting up, unable to sleep. An overwhelming happy feeling took them over, and they were both now possessing a new view for each other.

Pepper grabbed her phone and started typing a new text message to Tony. It read: '_Tony, I love you….._' and then Pepper clicked send. Tony's phone rang, and he opened his new text message. He read it and smiled. Next he typed in his own little response and clicked send. It read: '_I love you too, Pepper. [:_'Pepper received the message and smiled. Then the two found themselves leaning in, and soon enough, kissing. Then they felt a strong wind start to push them up. They stood up and tried to resist the mysterious wind. When they couldn't, Pepper grabbed onto Tony, scared for her life.

"Tony, what's happening?" Pepper asked, confused and scared.

"I…I don't know! This is a really strong wind!" In the distance, Olvera was smilng. She stayed in her sitting position on the floor, and remained calm. She knew what was going on. Soon, Tony and Pepper were sucked into the air. When they looked around, they saw that they were back in Rhodey's kitchen.

"Hey, we got out!" Pepper squealed, exited.

"Yeah! I don't know what we did to get out, but I'm not going to try and find out. I'm just glad we're free." Tony stated, happy. He looked at Pepper, who was growing a disappointed face.

"Tony….i sort of liked being in there, you know, just the two of us…" Pepper said, sadly.

"Well, I did too, Pepper, a lot, but you know we had to get out sometime. But I promise that we can be alone more often if you want, ok?" Tony said, comforting her. Pepper smiled.

"Thanks." Pepper answered, happy now. Then Rhodey and Roberta came into the kitchen to see what was going on, and got excitedly happy when they saw Tony and Pepper standing there. The four talked and talked about what happened while they were in there. Rhodey knew one thing now: Tony and Pepper weren't just friends now. He smiled, and they were all so happy to see the two teens again that no one went to sleep after that. The house was filled with a new layer of joy and hope, and for once in Tony's life, he felt like there was hope for the future yet.

**THE END! Wowww, that ending STUNK! Sorry! I'll do better in the future. Review, cuz I'm going to go write a short story for IMAA cuz this idea just popped into my head and I knew I had to write it down! Byeee [:**


End file.
